Seville Orange Marmalade

Sliced fruit method
Seville orange marmalade on toast, glistening in the morning sun.

Recipe information

The Seville orange has a unique aromatic flavour that is perfect for making marmalade, but is only available for a few weeks in January.

Category
Jams and preserves
Cuisine
English
Yields
6 x 450g jars
Preparation time
Cooking time
Steeping time
Total time

Seville oranges are only available for a few weeks from mid-January each year. This leads to the annual tradition of searching for a shop that stocks them and then buying enough to make marmalade to last the year. As we often end up giving jars to friends and family I end up having to make multiple batches.

Ingredients

  • 1 kg Seville oranges
  • 2 lemons
  • 2 kg sugar
  • 2.5 litre water

Instructions

  1. Remove the buttons from the oranges and lemons, cut them in half and juice them, reserving the seeds and pith.
  2. Cut the orange and lemon halves in half again and shred to the desired thickness, removing any large pieces of pith from the oranges and reserve. Discard the pith from the lemons.
  3. Place the juice, shredded peel and water into a large preserving pan.
  4. Tie the reserved the pith and seeds from the oranges in a piece of muslin and add to the pan.
  5. Leave to steep overnight or up to 24 hours.
  6. The next day, simmer the pan for 2 hours. At the end the peel should be soft.
  7. Remove the muslin with pith and seeds from the pan and squeeze out as much juice from it as possible, adding this back to the pan and discarding the rest
  8. Bring the pan to the boil and add the sugar, stirring constantly while it dissolves.
  9. Boil for 20 minutes and then start checking the set using the crinkle test or by temperature, which should be at least 105°C.
  10. While the marmalade is boiling, clean the jam jars and lids in hot soapy water and then put in a low over to dry for at least 30 minutes.
  11. Once the marmalade reaches the desired set, turn off the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes. Then pour into the jars and seal.

Notes

  • I like the fruit peel finely shredded, but it can be cut as thin or thick as you want.
  • The seeds and pith of Seville oranges contain lots of pectin which will set the marmalade, but we don't want this in the finished product.
  • Adding the lemon rind adds an extra dimension to the marmalade, but can also increase the bitterness. Removing as much pith as possible from the rind can help, but the lemon rind can be omitted.
  • Leaving the marmalade to cool a little before putting it jam jars helps the pieces of rind to stay mixed throughout the jar. Otherwise they have a tendency to float to the top.

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